Orkney moment

Had a great few days in Orkney with the CMS team; Chris Neal, Bob and Mary Hopkins, Jim Barker, Richard White, Jonny Baker and Andrew (the skinny) Jones... Photos to come... Good food, great Whisky, wonderful scenery etc.  We spent some time at Birsay site of a Norse Monastic community, whilst it was obviously a wild place and a place that would be an extremely challenging place to live there was a real peace about it... it struck me that the sea is a real paradox... deeply attractive and salving to humans and yet extremely powerful, capable of cleaving the landscape, splitting rocks and grinding them into dust... not unlike God then!

I wrote a short liturgy for the gathering which reflected on the place of Christians in culture... as islands of peace of shelter in the chaos and business of (post)modern life... in our relationships we offer peace (Luke 10) and point to the proximity and imminence of God.

[equipment – a large glass bowl, a selection of India inks (non-water soluble), a night/tea light for each person]

God's Message, the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies, laid out the earth and all that grows from it, Who breathes life into earth's people, makes them alive with his own life  "I am God. I have called you to live right and well. I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe. I have set you among my people to bind them to me, and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations, To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light: opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prisons.

Sing to God a brand-new song, sing his praises all over the world!  Let the sea and its fish give a round of applause, with all the far-flung islands joining in.  Let the desert and its camps raise a tune, calling the nomads to join in.  Let the villagers  round up a choir and perform from the tops of the mountains. Make God's glory resound; echo his praises from coast to coast.
From Isaiah 42

Here we stand on the edge of the land, at the brim of the wild ocean, dark and impenetrable waters, surrounded by swirling currents, confusing eddies, unseen obstacles beneath the surface, uncertain dangers hidden from view, winds that whip and whirl and disorientate, mists that obscure the view and cloud the horizon, waves that crash and crush, that wear away the shore, erosion and destruction, water whipped up that threatens to overwhelm, chaos and fear. 

Pour the ink on the water

We are called to be islands in the ocean; a promise of peace, a haven in the turmoil, a place of stillness and shelter, a harbour of nourishment and supply, rest and repair, a lighthouse in the confusion, a sign of safety in the midst chaos, pointing to the rock on which all can anchor in confidence.  Shouting and singing, into the eye of the storm, praise of the Lord of the elements, maker of land and sea, wind and rain, sun and storm.

In the chaos and confusion of modern living
Make me an Island
In the pain of relationships ripped apart
Make me an Island
In the storm of expectation and pressures
Make me an Island
In the anguish of catastrophe and disaster
Make me an Island
In the dead waters of loneliness
Make me an Island
In the fog of rootlessness and uncertainty
Make me an Island
In the swirling eddies of spirituality
Make me an Island
In the battering of depression and grief
Make me an Island
In the whirlpool of fear and panic
Make me an Island
In the lives smashed and ravaged by abuse
Make me an Island
In the heart of the churning ocean of culture
Make me an Island
In love for you and your people
Make me an Island

Float a candle on the water, then light it saying the words
Make me an Island

May you be blessed
As you continue to seek out
Honesty, and truth, and peace
Desiring more than passing, cheap, flippant intimacy.
May you be blessed
As you travel through seas of strangers
Desperately wanting to be seen
And not merely passed by
Yearning for a touch, a word, a presence.
May you be blessed as you authentically try to respond
To the god-given wrenching of your gut
Making you aware that a need is near
And someone is waiting on your touch, your word, your presence.
May the blessing of a love that transcends indifference and brings reconciliation
Be in your heart and in your mind and in your hands
As you travel to and fro-
Constantly aware that even now you are surrounded by love.
May you seek, may you be completed, and may you be blessed.
Amen.

Blessing written by Juli Allen

Technorati Tags: alt.worship: Emerging Church: Prayer: Spirituality: Worship

Comments

[D.G. Hollums]

Awesome and beautiful! I wish there was a non-metaphorical island around here in Northern KY, heh. Seeing Jonny's pictures made me wish I was there! Thanks again and God bless yall!